In 2023, Russia’s federal budget saw a 24% decrease in income from oil and gas, totalling 8.822 trillion roubles ($99.4 billion), as reported by the finance ministry on Thursday.
This decline was attributed to lower oil prices and diminished gas exports to Europe.
Despite this downturn, the Russian government anticipates a rebound in revenue to 11.5 trillion roubles in 2024, thanks to the successful redirection of oil exports from Europe to China and India. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak noted a significant drop in Europe’s portion of Russia’s crude exports, now at 4-5% compared to the previous 40-45%.
The decrease in Russia’s energy revenue has been further impacted by Western sanctions, including price caps, an embargo on seaborne oil exports, and the disruption of the Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe, which were damaged in September 2022.
These sanctions have also escalated costs for Russian exporters, as indicated by traders. The finance ministry’s data revealed a decline in oil and gas revenues to 650.5 billion roubles in December from 961.7 billion roubles in November.
This was below Reuters’ forecast of 719 billion roubles for the month.
For the entire year of 2023, the Russian government had initially projected oil and gas sales to contribute 8.939 trillion roubles to the federal budget, accounting for over 34% of the total budget revenue. This was a decrease from 2022’s 11.586 trillion roubles, a year when oil prices were higher.
